


A (Not So) Lonely Road

by ShipOnTheHorizon



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Brothers, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Developing Relationship, Home, Homecoming, It's not quite as dramatic as the Summary suggests, M/M, Parent James T. Kirk, Post-Divorce, Pre-James T. Kirk/Leonard "Bones" McCoy/Spock, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-30 00:09:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17213435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShipOnTheHorizon/pseuds/ShipOnTheHorizon
Summary: "Person A goes back to his home town after many years, Person B looks hotter than they did when they were 5."orLeo has avoided the state of Iowa for as long as he can remember after meeting Jocelyn – in turn, managing to avoid most of his childhood memories.When it’s time for him to finally return and face those he left behind, it won’t be easy, but it might change his life as he knows it.





	A (Not So) Lonely Road

The idea of returning to where he grew up shouldn’t be as scary to Leo as it was – but after leaving and never looking back with a girl on his arm, he couldn’t help but feel bad about what made him leave, especially with what happened in the end anyway. It’d been a week since he got the invitation and Leo was ashamed to think about how much time it had taken to say yes, despite the fact that it was an invite to see his best friend get married. 

Now, two days before the wedding and he is in the car driving down to a small town in Iowa for the first time in a decade, and all he could think about was whether he left the stove was on.

Typical.

After an eleven-hour journey – that he could’ve bypassed for a two-hour plane ride like Sam did but he didn’t want to die – he had finally arrived at the only motel in the small town, thrown his stuff on the bed, and immediately walked down the road to the only bar in the small town. As soon as he walked in, nostalgia hit him like a tidal wave. Times of running out the back door before his mom saw him, times of laughing with a drink in his hand before he was legally allowed one. The good times.

It was at that point that Leonard realised that there was never a reason for him not to come back. In all the years he hadn't returned, he had been giving Sam excuse after excuse not to come home.

‘Sorry Sam, school is keeping me busy.’

‘Sorry Sam, I’ve been put on a 72-hour shift.’

‘Sorry Sam, no.’

Maybe Jocelyn had covered his eyes more than he realised in their 4 months of married bliss in Atlanta before it all came crashing down.

Leo sighs. At least he’s back now – even if it is a decade too late. As the entrance to the bar slams open and Sam comes rushing in, Leonard reiterates his thoughts, or just on time.

“Leo!”

A smile splits Leo’s face without permission and he stands without thinking, opening his arms. 

“Hey Sam,” he says, as a smile splits Leo’s face without permission and he stands without thinking, opening his arms to his best friend that charges into him like they hadn’t seen each other less than two days ago.

“How was the drive?” Sam asks, with a smirk.

Leo rolls his eyes, “Long and you bloody well know it, you asshole.”

Sam lets out a laugh, “Well, it was your fault you didn’t fly down with me and A, but hey that’s your shit.”

“Fuck off,” Leo says, laughing with Sam, “Don’t judge me”. Despite it only having been a few days since he had seen him, laughing with Sam back in Iowa added a new kind of emotion to all of those he had been feeling since arriving. It was good, it felt like home again. Almost.

They carry on talking for a while, catching up on the few things that they have missed since they saw each other last, Leo inquiring into the status of the wedding venue but before Sam can respond, the door slams open again, but Leo doesn’t look up from his drink until he hears Sam yell “Little bro!”.

Leo’s head snaps to the door to get a glimpse of Jim and as they catch eyes, he wishes he didn’t.

Fuck. When did Jim grow up?

Leo, still remembering to be polite through his shock, stands up from his stool at the bar and shakes the hand that Jim puts out for him. 

“Sam, you realise I am 26 and not a child anymore?” Jim says, speaking to Sam but still looking at Leo, the broad smile on his faces softening the harshness in his words. 

“Oh, but you will always be my little bro, Jimmy boy,” Sam says with a laugh. Despite his shock, Leo looks up at Sam from his seat in confusion. He knew that the Kirk brothers had gotten closer since their mother died but he hadn’t ever seen Sam speak to Jim in such a way before.

Maybe it has been too long since he had been home. Christ.

Shaking away the confusion, and the long-lasting shock of Jim being in front of him after so long, Leo smiles at Jim as he takes the seat on the other side of Sam. 

“So, Jim, how you been? It’s been, what, 10 years since I saw you last?”

Jim laughed, “Yeah, it’s been a long time Bones.”

Leo doesn’t miss the fact that he ignores the actual question, but he rolls his eyes at the nickname. When Leo was 15, and Jim 11, Sam was out of the house to go get some food from down the corner shop and Jim dislocated his shoulder after falling down the stairs. 

Leo, a pre-doctor in training thanks to his dad, popped in back into place with no issues – apart from some hard crying from Jim – and somehow, he became labelled Bones. He didn’t know many people in Iowa who called him anything different apart from Sam, although that could’ve changed over the years.

It wasn’t long after that interaction that Jim was shipped off to an off-planet boarding school, after he drove his Dad’s car off a cliff, only a year later in 2246.

Sam and Jim had gotten into a small debate while Leo had zoned out – once again, having more good memories hit him across the face – so Leo decided to cut in before it could get too extreme.

“You still live here or are you just here for the wedding?” Leo asked, trying to get some insight into the life Jim has led since he left.

Rolling his eyes one last time at Sam, Jim says, “I moved back about a year ago after my son’s mom died, as mom didn’t want me taking care of a child on my own all the way back in San Francisco, and I kind of didn't want to leave after she died. How about you? Are you staying for long?”

Leo tried to hold back his shock at what Jim said – son? – but he can tell he didn’t do very well at the amusement on both Jim and Sam’s faces. “Uh, I’m – I’m here for the week. That’s the maximum amount of time that the hospital would give me.”

“Oh yeah! Bones, the doctor! How’s the doctoring going down in Atlanta – I heard that they have just theorised a machine that can help with detecti-”

“No, no, no! Jim, stop making him talk work – he’s there all the time, give him a break” Sam said with humour, interrupting Jim. Jim rolled his eyes in reply, but obediently quietened down – once again showing how much the interactions between the brothers had changed.

Before a new conversation could be started Sam stood up from his stool, grabbing onto Leo’s arm and dragging him up with him. 

“Right, come on Leo! Time to go, I need to update you on everything you need to know to be a co-best man with my bro, you will be in charge of everything.”

Jim rolled his eyes but made no effort to get up and join them to rebuttal what his brother said. 

“Bye asshole, and bye Bones!” He said waving, as the two of them left. Leo gave a small smile and a wave before they left into the colder outside of Iowa. As they walked down the road, Leo’s curiosity got the better of him, and he asked Sam what was up with him and Jim.

“It’s complicated. Jim has been through a lot of shit over the years – and when I say shit, I mean shit.” Sam said, his jaw clenching.

“Like, so shit I don’t know much about it. It’s not that he won’t tell me, it’s that it’s classified. Like, actually classified important and scary shit that he went through. It’s terrifying to think that he went through something like that and as soon as he was back in my arms I have kind of struggled to let him go again, especially since Mom died too and all of the stuff that happened with Carol and his son.” 

Leo frowned – classified shit? “Is he okay?”

Sam shrugged, “He’s getting better. I think that’s all he would want me to say at this point, but he’s getting better. It’s been 6 years since it happened and if you were there when he got home, you would be able to see the difference and how far he has come.” 

The accidental dig at Leo not being here hurt a little, but Leo ignored it as he could tell it wasn’t intentional. He didn’t reply, leaving the conversation to end at that as he could tell Sam was struggling to talk about it. 

As the night passed and Leo was updated about all that had been planned for the wedding, he thought over what he had been told and decided to leave it at that – it had obviously changed Jim and for once Leo felt it was better he stayed out of others business.

The next day, he was with Sam and Jim most of the day and it gave him a chance to talk to Jim about everything he had missed, and Leo learnt a lot about Jim and his son, David.

Jim told him how he used to be enlisted in Starfleet Academy, which was why he was living in San Francisco and he had a one-night stand with a lovely woman called Carol Marcus – “Yes, daughter of Admiral Marcus” Jim said with a smirk – that resulted in an accident.

“He may have been an accident, but he is the best thing that could’ve happened to me,” Jim said as they were browsing the flowers. “I stopped every reckless thing I was doing, and I think without him I wouldn’t have been here by now”. 

Him and Carol weren’t together, but they raised David as a couple – as both of them were brought up by single parents and neither wanted David to feel the same way – but after Carol died in a Starfleet training accident, Jim quit the academy and moved back home to help raise his son. 

Every little thing that Leo learnt about Jim just made him fall in love more. 

The wedding was a hit, and Sam and Aurelan looked lovely together, but Leo’s favourite part of the evening was getting a dance with Jim – and getting to meet 3-year old David. 

(Or possibly the kiss at the end of the night, but that’s no one else’s business).

**Author's Note:**

> Technically Leonard McCoy was born in the year 2227 but for him to be of a similar age to Samuel, he was born in 2234.


End file.
